Mahamevnawa

Mahamevnawa (pron. “Mahaa-maeu-nava” is Sinhalese for the Pali word “Mahamegha” which lit. means “great cleansing rain shower” and was the name of the royal park in ancient Sri Lanka where the first Buddhist monk upon arrival on the island of Sri Lanka delivered a discourse of the Buddha by reciting from memory and thus instructing the listeners in the teaching of the Buddha) Buddhist Monastery is an organization of Buddhist monasteries, of Sri Lankan origin established to benefit the spiritual development of human beings using the teachings of the Gautama Buddha. Its main monastery is in Polgahawela, Sri Lanka, and Sri Lanka is home to 35 branches of the organization. Overseas branches are in Canada, USA, Australia, UK and Germany.

The founder and the chief Buddhist monk in charge of these monasteries is Venerable Kiribathgoda Gnanananda Thero, who is engaged in spreading Buddhism to both local and international communities, and in highlighting the aim of Buddhism: putting and end to Dukkha (suffering) or attaining Nibbana. Mahamevnawa is a reform movement and follows one simple yet profound ideal: to learn from the Buddha directly and put his very instructions into practice – a kind of Buddhist renaissance with the intention to discover the roots of Early Buddhism and to re-apply their timeless principles.

Practicing Dhamma

Mahamevnawa monasteries promote teaching, discussion and practice of Dhamma in unaltered form, and that the first step towards cession of suffering is getting to know Buddha’s teaching. Mahamevnawa also facilitates the practice of meditation, one of the key tools for improving concentration and wisdom, through cultivating mindfulness (sati) as a component of the path to Nibbana. A key point that Mahmevnawa highlights is that Dhamma not only says that life is suffering, but also shows a proven path to cession of that suffering.

Spreading Dhamma through personal example.

Both lay people and monks associated with Mahamevnawa adhere to this whenever possible. The way of preaching and teaching Dhamma adopted by the monks at Mahamevnawa is what Buddha advocated and calls for a high level of vinaya practice and application to investigating the Buddha’s teachings through study and meditation.

Mahamevnawa Dhamma Publications

Mahamevnawa makes available recorded sermons & Dhamma texts, based on original teachings of Buddha, that reveal the truth in life and emphasize the urge of cession of suffering. Most of these publications are in Sinhalese, due to the initial Sri Lankan context, but English translations are also available. Through the work of Ven. Kiribathgoda Gnanananda, Mahamevnawa has been on the forefront of providing Sri Lankans with modern accessible translations of the timeless word of the Buddha.